Write It Right ~ rain, rein, reign

Rain is that wet stuff that falls out of the sky, when rainy days and Mondays really get you down.

A rider uses reins to guide a horse and to rein her in when he wants to stop.

A queen reigns over her subjects.  Long may she reign!  Queen Elizabeth knows how to rein in her horse as well as how to reign over her subjects.  I don't know whether she rides in the rain.

Your choice

This post was prompted by an online article quoting a pastor giving parental advice about a daughter:  "reign [sic] her in."  He was giving parents some really awful advice, like to "punch" their children, and his misuse of the word reign makes him look ignorant.  Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to correct his spelling.  In the comments, tell us whether he should have used rain, or rein, or reign.  (Too bad we can't enlighten him on raising children.)

Write It Right ~ using hyphens

I looked up readathon at Dictionary.com and got this definition.

-athon
a suffix extracted from marathon, occurring as the final element in compounds which have the general sense “an event, as a sale or contest, drawn out to unusual length, often until a prearranged goal, as the contribution of a certain amount of money, is reached”:  walkathon; readathon.  Also, -a-thon, -thon.

I prefer the word without the hyphens, because that's the direction I think the word is headed.  Have you ever given much thought to hyphens?  As a former editor (of two in-house publications in the 1970s), it was my job to notice such things.  As a reader, I noticed hyphens much earlier.  When I was a little girl, the word today was written as to-day.  (Yes, I'm that old, born in 1940.)  I've watched as two separate words often used together became a hyphenated word, and then the hyphen eventually dropped out.  Michael Quinion, writing about The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED) updated in 2007, confirms what I remember.

The five-yearly update of The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED) came out last week.  One matter has caused a lot of comment — the decision by its editors to omit the hyphen from some 16,000 words in the work.

Compound nouns have traditionally begun as separate or hyphenated words but with a strong tendency over time to collapse into single words.  A century ago, it was standard practice to write to-day, but the hyphen has long since evaporated from the page; similarly with teenager (teen-ager from its first use in 1941 until the later 1950s) and lipstick (it was two words in the 1880s, but became hyphenated around the 1920s).  Americans have long been much more willing to write words such as postmodern without the hyphens that British standards require. It will be no surprise to learn that the SOED writes email, not e-mail, and website rather than Web site...

There can be no doubt from the accumulated evidence that the hyphen is on its way out, though reports of its demise are premature.

Ah, yes, I also write email and website.  You should read the funny story about this guy carrying his HYP-HENS sign.

Oh, that hyphenated notice at the top of this post?   It's to remind you (and me) that Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon is this Saturday — even though the folks running it still use hyphens.  Below the drawing is this saying:

"Disgusted with life, she retired to the society of books." — Rosine Emmet Sherwood

Write It Right ~ today's spelling lesson

Someone goofed.  I don't want to eat shampoo, fast or slow.  The bad news is that the sign has been up since at least Sunday (when I took the photograph), maybe even Saturday — and today is Tuesday.  Has nobody else noticed?  Or do they just not care?

If you can find the mistake in this sign near my house (surely every reader of this blog can!), please say "found it" in the comments.

Sunday Salon ~ what does the moon smell like?

Raegan:  "The moon smells good."
Her mom:  "What does it smell like?"
Raegan:  "Ladybugs."

Her mom (my granddaughter) wrote:  "I love the random way Raegan thinks!"  Two-year-old Raegan has quite a lively and imaginative mind, that's for sure!

For the writers among us

ABCs of how an agent works by Marie, the blogger-wife of a writer who just signed a contract.

Write It Right

I can see it now, a headline that says:  COMMA SAVES GRANDPA'S LIFE

Books

The House on Olive Street ~ by Robyn Carr, 1999, fiction

The loss of their close friend draws four women together.  And a summer spent sorting through personal effects offers the perfect challenge — and the perfect escape.

Sable — her bestselling novels have made her a star, but the woman who has everything, in fact, has nothing but a past she is desperate to hide.
Elly — the intellectual who has hidden herself within the walls of academia, afraid to admit she is tired of being alone.
Barbara Ann — the talent behind twenty-six romance novels wakes up one day to discover she's lost control of her career, her sanity and her family.
Beth — her popular mysteries have become the only way she can fight against the secret tyranny of an abusive husband.

In the house on Olive Street, away from their troubles, the four women discover something marvelous:  themselves.  And along the way they realize a dream.  For, in telling the story of a remarkable woman, their own lives begin to change.

I came back from housesitting with another borrowed book — this one.  Have you read it?

Then Saturday, my friend Donna and I went out to eat, but first we stopped by Books-A-Million to pick up a couple of books she ordered.  Of course, I picked up a book from the sale table, adding to my overflowing TBR stacks.

Lady Macbeth ~ by Susan Frasier King, 2008, fiction (Scotland)

Married, pregnant, then quickly widowed, Gruadh, the last female descendent of Scotland's most royal line, is forced to wed her husband's murderer, the warlord Macbeth.  Determined to protect her interests and those of her infant son, she vows to preserve her family's legacy at any cost.

The novel starts with two things I love -- a map and a genealogy.  It's a map of Celtic Scotland, and the Genealogy of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.  I had never heard of this one, but it looks interesting and will represent Scotland in my Book Around the World challenge.

Letter writing challenge

I know you are anxious to hear from me, but remember:  "There's no mail delivery on Sunday."  If you haven't already sent me your address, email me and I'll add you to my mailing list:  emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com.  For the record, yesterday I received my first letter from a participant in the February Month of Letters — from Jan @ Yearning for God.  Thanks, Jan!



More TSS posts can be found on Facebook.

Write It Right ~ I believe in commas!

Whoever designed this cover needs to study grammar.  The "EAT, RAY, LOVE" part is a cutesy attempt to play on the title of Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (I think the book's title has no commas, which is incorrect).  Thanks to Chrisbookarama, I learned:  "A missing comma makes Rachael Ray a cannibal."

Cannibal version:
"Rachael Ray finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog."
With commas added:
"Rachael Ray finds inspiration in cooking, her family, and her dog."

Words or phrases in a series of three or more need commas between each item, as I've done in the second line.  In the first line, she is "cooking her family" and "cooking her dog."  In the corrected version, she "finds inspiration in cooking" and "finds inspiration in her family" and "finds inspiration in her dog."

To be fair, I went to the Tails, Inc. web site and found a post saying the cover shown above was photoshopped.  Here's their original October 2010 cover, according to this site:

Write It Right ~ cited, sited, sighted

I read on someone's blog (that muddled someone shall remain nameless) that a person had "sited a book."  That's when I decided it's time for another Write It Right post.  Today's words are cited, sited, and sighted.  First, notice that I'm using them all as verbs.

cite
–verb (used with object), cit·ed, cit·ing.
1. to quote (a passage, book, author, etc.), esp. as an authority: He cited the Constitution in his defense.
2. to mention in support, proof, or confirmation; refer to as an example: He cited many instances of abuse of power.

site
–verb (used with object), sit·ed, sit·ing.
1. to place in or provide with a site; locate.
2. to put in position for operation, as artillery: to site a cannon.

sight
–verb (used with object), sighted, sighting.
1. to see, glimpse, notice, or observe: to sight a ship to the north.

The blogger's usage of sited means a person had placed a book somewhere.  What she meant was that someone had cited (quoted or referred to) a book.  I rather doubt that the muddler reads my blog, but if she does, maybe she'll sight something worth knowing.

This Write It Right post is part of my new series about words and writing.

Write It Right ~ two books on writing (no, three)

I was too busy to respond a month ago, when Chris of Chrisbookarama wrote Thoughts on Two Books about Writing.  I had been re-reading the third edition of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White (that would be the 1979 edition), and it was beside me on my desk as I read her post praising the book.  The other book Chris mentioned was The Writing Life by Annie Dillard.  Chris asked, "Do you have any favorite books on writing you would recommend?"

  The one that immediately came to mind was William Zinsser's On Writing Well, now in its seventh edition.  It's an excellent book on writing, and I was surprised that no one else mentioned it.  Wikipedia says,

"Zinsser emphasizes word economy."

Author James J. Kilpatrick, in his book The Writer's Art says that if he were limited to just one book on how to write, it would be William Zinsser's On Writing Well. He adds,

"Zinsser's sound theory is that 'writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it.'"

Some teachers even go as far as to tell their students to "Zinsser" their work (to zinsser means to take the clutter out of their essays).  The cover pictured here is the 30th anniversary edition.

I also have Writing to Learn (1988) by Zinsser, on how to write and think clearly about any subject at all.  The title of the second chapter may sound familiar to teachers:  "Writing Across the Curriculum."  Think of it as an interdisciplinary approach to writing.

Zinsser's web site has excerpts from several of his books, including On Writing Well and Writing to Learn.

This Write It Right post is part of my new series about words and writing.

Write It Right ~ peaked, peeked, piqued

Three times in as many days, I've run across a word I haven't seen (or maybe haven't noticed) in years.  Two of the three times it was misspelled.

• "His curiosity was peaked by the mysterious lady."
• "That peeked my interest."
• "I was both piqued and relieved to find that my little peccadillo had caused my siblings so much mirth."

A peak is the pointed top of something, like Mount Fuji (above).  It's the high point, as in a machine running at peak performance. To peek at something is to take a quick look, as when we play peek-a-boo with a baby or peek from behind a newspaper.


The word the writers of the first two examples above wanted was "piqued."  To pique can mean to excite, as in arousing curiosity, interest, or resentment.  These children have definitely become curious about the ... whatever it is.

If I've piqued your interest, click this link to read a clever post about these three words.  You may also want to peek here to see a photo of President Barack Obama playing peek-a-boo with a baby.

This Write It Right post is part of my new series about words and writing.

Write it right ~ plural words

Why people can't spell

I've been teaching my writing classes why pronouns must agree with their antecedents.  While reading blogs this morning, I ran across this sentence:

"...some artist risk their lives to create and speak in a hostile environment."

artist = singular subject
their = plural pronoun

The pronoun their refers back to artist.  One or the other is incorrect.  I read the whole paragraph and know the writer intended the plural artists, yet she consistently used the singular word artist instead;

"We learn about many Haitian artist."

many = more than one
artist = singular

I think the problem is not about spelling, but about hearing.  It's hard to distinguish between the spoken words artist and artists, but they look different on a page.  A careful reader should notice that one word has an "s" on the end and the other does not.  People cannot spell correctly because they don't read and thus are unable to really hear what is said.  Here are other examples of writers having problems with plurals that I've run across today:

"I may be one of the rare person who has not read this book."
"I picked up seven novels and six DVD."
"...a countless amounts of dreams..." (The whole phrase is a mess.)

Cheating in class

I discovered another reason why students may be confused about plurals.  During yesterday's grammar test, one young man was looking up something on his large-screen cell phone, which I confiscated until the end of class.  I teach at a college, yet his screen showed me that he was looking up "PLURAL."  Could you tell me the plurals of bird and baby?  Those were two of the eight words on the test.  It occurred to me that he didn't know the meaning of the word plural.  Maybe I should start with vocabulary:

plural = more than one
antecedent = preceding

I told my early class yesterday their biggest writing problem was failing to listen to the instructions.  A few minutes later one young man said, "Would you repeat that?  I was working on something else."  No one seemed to notice the irony, and I am rapidly losing hope that I can get through to some of them.

This Write It Right post is the first in my new series about words and writing.